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June 21, 2023, 1:35 PM
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Top News

Annie Palmer / CNBC:
The US FTC files a lawsuit alleging Amazon used “dark patterns” to steer customers to enroll in Prime without consent and “sabotaged” their attempts to cancel  —  - The FTC on Wednesday sued Amazon, alleging it tricked customers into signing up for its Prime subscription program …
Zosha Millman / Polygon:
Ali Selim, the director and executive producer of Marvel's Secret Invasion, says Method Studios used AI to design the opening credits scene  —  ‘It just came right out of the shape-shifting, Skrull world identity’  —  The world of Secret Invasion is decidedly sketchy.
Josh Dzieza / The Verge:
A look at the vast and mostly hidden “tasker” underclass, including subject-matter experts, hired by companies like Scale AI to annotate data for AI training  —  As the technology becomes ubiquitous, a vast tasker underclass is emerging — and not going anywhere.
Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
Amazon plans to hold Prime Day 2023 on July 11 and July 12 and introduce an invite-only Prime Days deals program; India's event will be held “later this summer”  —  Amazon will hold its 2023 Prime Day sales event on Tuesday, July 11, and Wednesday, July 12, the Seattle-based e-commerce giant announced tonight.
Will Douglas Heaven / MIT Technology Review:
A look at the recent debates over existential risk in AI, as views once considered extreme are now mainstream talking points, grabbing world leaders' attention  —  “Ghost stories are contagious.”  —  Who's afraid of the big bad bots?  A lot of people, it seems.
Sawdah Bhaimiya / Insider:
In a tweet reply, Elon Musk says Twitter considers “cis” and “cisgender” slurs and “the contemptible creep” who “manufactured” the term “has serious problems”  —  - Elon Musk said terms like “cisgender” and “cis” are now considered “slurs” on Twitter.
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Reddit suspended some moderators after they changed their subreddits to NSFW as “incorrectly marking a community as NSFW” violates its content and mod policies  —  Reddit has started removing moderator teams managing subreddits that switched the labeling on their communities to Not Safe For Work …
Kana Inagaki / Financial Times:
Masayoshi Son says SoftBank plans to go on the “counteroffensive” soon by resuming AI investments; the group has $35B+ after halting investments in recent years  —  Billionaire chief talks up AI and reveals he had breakdown in October where he questioned his achievements as an entrepreneur
Jeremy Diamond / CNN:
A look at the White House's urgent push to regulate AI, as President Biden meets with AI experts for a non-industry perspective on the risks and opportunities  —  President Joe Biden huddled in the Oval Office with several of his top advisers in early April as an aide typed prompts into ChatGPT …
Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:
Instagram now lets US users download Reels posted by public accounts, adding a watermark logo and the account name for sharing, which TikTok has done for years  —  Instagram is finally letting users download Reels posted by others so they can share them outside the app.
Kat Bailey / IGN:
In a major reorganization, EA splits EA Games and EA Sports, and renames the former as EA Entertainment, signaling the company's possible expansion beyond games  —  EA is undergoing a major internal reorganization, with EA Games being renamed “EA Entertainment.”
Taylor Hatmaker / TechCrunch:
Twitch plans to require that streamers add new content labels for streams with sexual themes, graphic violence, drug use, gambling, or “significant” vulgarity  —  Twitch is rethinking the way it flags mature content, swapping its existing toggle for a more granular set of topic-specific labels.
Associated Press:
Bernie Sanders opens a Senate investigation into Amazon's warehouse safety practices and writes to Andy Jassy about “egregious health and safety violations”  —  Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has opened a Senate investigation into Amazon's warehouse safety practices …
Bloomberg:
The US, the EU, Japan, and India have committed $100B+ combined for chip subsidies; chipmakers argue inflation, energy, and tech advances increased plant costs  —  The global race to build domestic factories and sever dependency on overseas suppliers for these critical components is spurring a spending boom …
More: Fortune
K.J. Yossman / Variety:
Filing: Embracer paid ~$395M for Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit rights in 2022, far below ~$2B estimates; Amazon reportedly paid $250M for just the TV rights  —  Embracer Group, the Swedish gaming conglomerate that snapped up the rights to “Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” …
More: Deadline.  Forums: r/movies

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About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 1:35 PM ET, June 21, 2023.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

From Mediagazer

Todd Spangler / Variety:
FCC filing: Paramount says the merged Paramount-WBD will be 49.5% owned by foreign investors, with ~38.5% of the equity held by a trio of Middle Eastern funds

Zack Sharf / Variety:
President Trump says “Jimmy Kimmel should be immediately fired by Disney and ABC” over Kimmel's joke about Melania Trump

Reuters:
Bertelsmann agrees to combine BMG with Concord in a cash-and-stock deal giving it a 67% stake; Concord shareholders will receive a 33% stake and $1.16B in cash

More News

Kevin Purdy / Ars Technica:
A look at the vagueness and implications of the EU's plan to require that portable batteries, like those in smartphones, are “readily removable and replaceable”

Earlier Picks

Kyle Wiggers / TechCrunch:
NYC-based ElevenLabs, whose AI can turn text into speech using synthetic or cloned voices, raised a $19M Series A, a source says at a $99M post-money valuation
Aisha Malik / TechCrunch:
Spotify updates its desktop app with redesigned “Your Library” and “Now Playing” user interfaces, meant to align the experience with the company's mobile app
Xinghui Kok / Reuters:
Memo: Grab CEO Anthony Tan tells staff the company plans to cut 1,000+ jobs, or 11% of its workforce, citing costs and ensuring “even more affordable services”
Martin Matishak / The Record:
The US DOJ announces NatSec Cyber, a new section within its National Security Division focused on disrupting and prosecuting malicious foreign cyber activity
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft's Satya Nadella, Activision's Bobby Kotick, and Sony's Jim Ryan plan to testify in court over the US FTC's bid to block Microsoft's Activision deal
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